Regions Hospital Participates in Traumatic Brain Injury Study

Regions Hospital is participating in a nationwide study to find out if a drug called tranexamic acid can help improve outcomes for people recovering from a traumatic brain injury.

The U.S. Department of Defense is helping fund the research, because there are approximately 20,000 service members who suffer a traumatic brain injury every year.

Dr. R.J. Frascone, with Regions Hospital, says there is a lot of training involved in the study. Researchers will try to determine whether tranexamic acid helps stop bleeding in the brain in the moments after a head injury occurs.

"There really hasn't been any serious advancements in the treatment of head injury for over 30 years," Frascone said. "So doctors are desperately looking at different things to try and treat head injuries."

He said the lack of advancements is not because researchers are not trying to make progress but because they have not found anything that really works.